Tie ALLASCPosT DAVID F. CONNER General Manager A Publication of Pennaprint, Inc. DEBBY HIGGINS Editor Off the top BY DEBBY HIGGINS Post Editor The end of February signals that biological clock, which ticks inside the human machine, to gear up for spring. Not that March is more spring than winter, but there is something about this time of year that makes us WANT spring more in March than April. ; Melting snow suddenly becomes exciting and temperatures above freezing warrants bringing out the windbreakers instead of the goosedown insulated. : . The spirit of rebirth replaces the dormancy of winter and the melting snows begin to reveal more than the new, green shoots of grass. The blight upon the land once more encompasses highways, dirt roads, and city streets. The uglyness and shame of litter erupts along with the crocus and daffodil. What was hidden for many long months now becomes obvious, obnoxious piles of cans, bottles, papers, and tires - even green bags-full of household garbage. / Increased landfill costs and almost closed ranks of trash collection services have forced many to deposit household refuse along roadsides and in ditches. The stuff was well hidden; thanks to an almost constant covering of snow. Spring takes away the ~ concealing cloak to expose the disposables of modern society for all to see. It’s disgusting to drive down a familiar road and see the mess. Aside from the household garbage, which is bad enough, the amount of bottles and cans tossed along the road is staggering. Despite pleas written on bottle labels to ‘dispose of properly”, some soft drink and beer drinkers seem to think this message doesn’t apply to them. Or perhaps they feel the roadside is the proper place. : Recently, the Pennsylvania Conservation Committee opened public hearings on a Senate-approved mandatory recycling mea- sure . The bill would require state residents to recycle 25 percent of their trash by implementing the program. 1997. Counties would take on the duties of Why wait until 1997? Similar programs begun in other states have proven worthwhile within the few short years of their inception. Is recycling so offensive to the idea before we try it? public that we have to get used to the There is no question that litter is something that affects us all and landfill crises are an absolute. Recycling is not an entire answer to the problem but it sure will help. Is it too much to think that the effort will be its own reward? gli ~The time is now for Americans to re-align their thinking and their lifestyles. The disposable society must soon come to an end and soon after, litter will end. Christians to unite in prayer On April 29, 1988 more than one million Christians of all denominations will meet fo the greatest single prayer gathering in history. The Body of Christ will gather to pray for His church, the world and our nation. Included events are: International Women’s Meeting, International Pastor’s Confer- ence and an International Youth Convocation. For more informa- tion please call (717) 639-5433, (717) 675-1223, (717) 823-8360 or (717) 586-9062. Local bus and hotel reservations deadline is March 15. The Post apologizes In last week’s issue of The Dallas Post, a photo of Theresa Dressler was inadvertenly cred- ited to Charlot N. Denmon. The actual photo was taken by John Sedor of Forty-Fort. We apolo- gize to Mr. Sedor for the error. Also omitted from the article were the names of two of Ther- esa’s sponsors; South Fork Floral, Dallas, and Wilkes Floral, Wilkes-Barre. Read The Post 0.K. Where is it? Enough is enough, already! Snow, snow, and more Snow. It's really a dog's life, Back Mountain Billy growls. Where's spring? That crazy groundhog 'Editorial/opinion should've stayed in his hole! Fiegelman says...men are the pers BY RICHARD FIEGELMAN Special to The Post Some thoughts: I don’t know how many males of the species out there agree with me, but I’m sick and tired of Phil Donahue, Oprah Win- frey, Geraldo and the parade of. ‘“‘experts’’ which flood evry one of their shows. (Except when they have beefcake reviews). It is invariably the same story. Man-bashing. According to these experts, psychologist in wolves clothing, the world would be a far better place if men fell off the edge. I believe that in this society the sexes should share equal billing for its problems. At this point we could use a little less of eggheads with new book in hand, and a little more common sense. My wife agrees, so guys we have one of the opposite on our side. The Olympics were an utter disaster. Our athletes were sti- fled by bad luck and terrible calls. As usual, politics played a prominent role. Then again, our program survives on donations, while most others are run like professional teams. Maybe we should fall in line for this star wars program. The new craze among our presidential neophytes is to avoid debate at any cost. Maybe these guys really don’t have much to talk about besides donations, girlfriends, and arms sales. The comedy continues. Baseball season is just around the bend, and for all of you baseball widows, take heart September isn’t that far away. As a solution, I think you fans out there should take your wives to a few major league games. I took my wife, Barri, to Yankee Stadium last year, and she’s hooked (at least for five innings ecuted sex or so). By the way, look for the Yankees, Athletics, Mets, and Reds to fight it out for the World Series title. My pick: coming in a few weeks. Does Pat Buchanan, syndi- cated columnist, really take himself seriously? This guy is full of more mumbo-jumbo than a high school history book. ; Jack Nicholson is without doubt the most talented actor of his generation. He has worn so many faces well that it is hard to find someone in his class. I can’t wait any longer, and am going to make time to go and see ‘“Ironweed’”’ with Jack and another great talent, Meryl Streep. The things that dreams are made of. er ““Gan’t wait for my first Spring in Dallas. The beautiful days and cool nights are also the things that dreams are made of. Who's going to be the next preacher to confess that he’s human. Jimmy Swaggart, one of the finest public speakers of his time, has finally had to come to terms with his human- ity. If this crystal church busi- ness wasn’t such an outrage, it gould be a joke. Come to think of it... I was glass to see the veterans of the Vietnam War finally get a little ‘recognition for the sacri- fices, both physical and emo- tional, which they have suf- fered. This country should be ashamed for the complacency that these. brave men and women were shown. The memo- rial erected to them in Wilkes- Barre provides some solace, if little“else. Speaking of memorials, I feel that the gentleman who spent a lot of time and effort to erect a monument in memory of World War II at Harveys Lake was railroaded. With the emotion and endeavor that was invested, Are the Olympics a dud? BY DONALD KAUL Special to The Post Is it just me or are the Winter Olympics a dud? Admittedly, I’ve never been one of your big fans of the Winter Games. To me, watching someone slide down a patch of ice at 90 mph compares unfavorably with waiting for a bus. Still, in other years there has been a certain entertainment value, a sense of excitement. Not this year. ; For one thing, nobody American wins anything. Well, hardly anything. A couple of gold medals here, a silver there, a bronze, but it seems that every time they set someone up as a hero, he or she falls down. Or whenever a goal is scored, we're w‘tching a commercial. Or we’re listening to a dumb interview with a sex therapist. They even managed to mess up the figure skating a little, mainly by letting Dick Buttons talk. If I wanted snide, mean-spirited sm, commentary I'd have watched the Republican debates. They should give Buttons a hockey puck to chew on during competition. And I though that announcer David Santee’s trick of going up to Brian Orser, the Canadian figure skater, moments after he’d come off the ice, shoving a microphone in his face and saying -- “I’ve got good news for you and bad news. You skated great but you lost. Whah's your reaction?’’-should win the Howard Cosell sensitivity award. : : Could it be that television is eating its own? The Winter Olympics used to be a modest little event for people who wore leather shorts and yodeled. But now it has become an enormous television extravaganza that encompasses the world. Even places without snow or ice send competitors to the Games. That means the opportunity to sell a lot of ads presents itself. - : Giving television a chance to sell ads is like bleeding in front of a Great White Shark. They did supress their feeding urge during the men’s figure skating, allowing some 25 minutes to roll by without a commercial, but the incident only served to underline how seldom television permits the drama of a sport to play in its natural rhythm. It is a medium that has the unique ability to make everything into a lesser version of ‘“Let’s Make A Deal,” which it seems to have done it with the Winter Olympics. Of course, if any sporting event deserves to suffer from overcommercialization it’s the Winter Games. Even in the old days the competitors were shameless about making themselves walking billboards for products they endorsed. Now, it seems, the games are dominated by film companies, ski manufacturers and equip- ment firms. That seems tacky, somehow. Even without television, however, I would find the Games dull. A few of the events are exciting, of course, but most are more in the category of tedious. For example: Compulsory figures — The reason this part of the figure skating ; competition is compulsory is that no one in their right mind would do it of his or her own free will. Skaters do slow, slow figure-8s, then the judges get down on their hands and knees to see how well it was done. More thrilling than this is cattle judging at the Iowa State Fair. I think they should make the skaters do their figure-8s the hard way -- two 4s — or forget about it. : Cross-country skiing —- I know it’s a difficult sport and you have to be in great shape and all that, but I'd rather watch a mailman deliver catalogs than watch people ski across country. This is one of the Olympic events that make commercials look good. Biathlon —- This is the National Rifle Association version of cross- ... I ~ S country skiing; boredom interspersed with moments of shooting. Iti ‘would be improved if they allowed the contestajts to shoot at each : her, but they don’t. : Luge — Which is what we used to call kids named Luigi back in my neighborhood in Detroit. It involves lying down flat and sliding down a chute on the back of your neck. It has all the disadvantages of being shot out of a cannon backward, but none of the charm or grace. 2 Then there are the contestants’ uniforms, which range from mere bad taste to bizarre. One of the nice things about skiing used to be that skiers looked so good in their gear. It made you want to be like Jean-Claude Killy when you grew up. Now skiers look like sausages with leprosy; pink with blue swirls, diamond patterns rampant on a field of fuchsia —- and that’s just the men. It’s enough to make you long for the days of black-and-white television. I keep waiting for the Jamaican bobsled team to show up in Hawaiian shirts and sandals but, no, everybody wears those slick suits in which you have to be Jane Fonda to look good. “Olympic Games are lacking most is a sense of humor, unless you * * count the guy who thought up the Dr. Ruth sex-on-skis interview. — be satisfied until the Blacks rise for a final time and wipe them out to a man. Justice will be served. Arizona Gov. Evan Mecham’s impeachment trial began on Monday. Justice will be served. how can a few hypocrites prose- lytize as to what is art? I don’t hear anyone up in arms about lawn jockeys, pink flamingos, and other such aesthetic non- sense of the well heeled. Bishop Desmond Tutu and other anti-apartheid leaders were arrested in Cape Town, South Africa on Monday at a demonstration against this incredible evil. I question the sanity of the ‘white elitist” minority. They're not going to Maybe if we wait long enough the Middle East will immolate itself, and then Jim and Tammy Bakker can open a theme park at the Wailing Wall. It would be aalled Wailing Wallets. See you next week.... PEGGY LACEY Peggy Lacey, 28 Housewife Dallas : “I don’t think they give them enough money to support them. They don’t seem to back them up, the athletes need to use their own money to train and it’s just too expensive.” CHERYL BOGART Cheryl Bogart, 29 Traffic clerk Dallas “Our athletes just don’t train enough.” RICHARD MOSS Richard Moss, 31 Printer Red Rock “Because we don’t get the financial backing and support. Our athletes have to work to support themselves and make time for practice on their own.” The Post asks: “Why do you think America did so poorly in the Olympics?” WARREN GENSEL Warren Gensel, 29 Mailman Harveys Lake “The other countries are more professional. We also don’t have as much snow as the other countries. They work full time on their training. Basically, I feel the other countries are already using professionals.” IRENE KATYL HENRY SHUBILLA Irene Katyl, 56 Henry Shubilla, 36 Unemployed | Truck Driver Dallas x Wilkes-Barre Township ‘‘Because the American people don’t back them. They don’t give the money. Actually, the government should support the athletes more. They put too much emphasis on everything else. There’s also too much politics in the Olympics. The other countries are also more professional.” - “They don’t get a chance to practice enough. The other countries have funds for their athletes to practice all the time. The problem is the funding.” a BELLS Sh or | | i RE rnd 1
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers